Junior Minister in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing Glen Beache last Wednesday said that the construction sector contributes 12 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of this country.{{more}}
But although the construction sector over the last 16 years has been making a significant contribution to the economic development of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Beache said that the government is concerned that the construction sector is not orgainised or regulated in any way.
Beache was at the time speaking at the final part of a series of training sessions for persons involved in the construction sector sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Caribbean Development Programme for Economic Competitiveness (CPEC) and implemented by the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing.
The junior minister added that the government, with generous assistant from CPEC and the European Union (EU), is taking steps to regulate the sector. A national building code and guidelines are in the final stages and will be taken to parliament shortly while a framework for the registration and licensing of contractors and tradesmen and the registration of professionals is being considered. Beache also outlined a number of other steps being taken to regulate the sector. These include training and institutional networking.
Beache also encouraged persons to join the St. Vincent and the Grena-dines Construction Associa-tion so that it may become a vibrant non-governmental organisation (NGO).